Brunei Methanol Company will restart its 850,000 mt/year methanol plant in Sungai Liang Industrial Park early next week following a turnaround, a source close to the company said on Thursday.
The plant was shut for maintenance from March 19-20 for 40 days. "It will likely ramp up by the week of May 9," said the source, noting that the company will resume offering methanol in the spot market the same week. Methanol supply has been tight in Southeast Asia with the shutdown of the Brunei plant and the low operating rate at Petronas' 600,000 mt/year No. 1 plant in Malaysia. Petronas' 1.7 million mt/year No. 2 plant was last heard shut as well. This led to firmer CFR Southeast Asia prices, with an offer heard as high as $360/mt on Wednesday. Limited buying in the region, however, has kept assessed prices stable at $351/mt.
The next turnaround for Brunei Methanol Company's plant will be in 2013. Brunei Methanol Company is a joint venture comprising Japan's Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company (50%), Itochu (25%) and Brunei National Petroleum Company (25%).
